The NEOM Project: Vision, Reality, and the $500 Billion Gap Between Them | $8.8 Trillion Later

In 2017, Saudi Arabia announced NEOM: a $500 billion city of the future. Nine million residents. No cars. Flying taxis. An artificial moon. In 2025, an internal audit leaked to the Wall Street Journal put the real cost at $8.8 trillion - more than four times Saudi Arabia's entire GDP - with construction formally suspended and only 2.4 kilometres actually built. This is the full story of NEOM's vision, the reality on the ground, and the $500 billion gap between them. Announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the 2017 Future Investment Initiative, NEOM's centerpiece was The Line - a 170-kilometre linear city rising 500 metres, promising a density nine times Manhattan's inside a structure architects called physically impossible. This documentary traces the leaked internal audit that found 'unrealistically rosy assumptions' and McKinsey fees of $130 million a year, the displacement of roughly 20,000 people from Howeitat tribal land, the November 2024 firing of CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr after a poorly received Sindalah opening, and the financial mechanism that actually killed the project: when Saudi Aramco cut its dividend by $40 billion, the PIF's ability to fund NEOM collapsed with it. What remains is a pivot - a $5 billion DataVolt AI data centre deal - and a framework for reading every future Gulf megaproject announcement. CHAPTERS: 00:00 PROLOGUE 01:24 OCTOBER 2017: WHAT WAS ACTUALLY PROMISED 04:19 THE LINE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF AN IMPOSSIBLE IDEA 07:27 THE HOWEITAT TRIBE: THE COST BEFORE THE CONCRETE 10:20 THE FINANCIAL UNRAVELLING 13:09 THE PIVOT AND WHAT IT REVEALS 16:49 EPILOGUE In this video: NEOM, The Line Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030, NEOM cost overrun, NEOM internal audit, Howeitat tribe, NEOM CEO fired, McKinsey NEOM, NEOM data center pivot, DataVolt, Sindalah, Aramco dividend, PIF Saudi Arabia, Gulf megaproject, sovereign wealth fund. Subscribe for documentaries on global economics, geopolitics, and business history. #NEOM #TheLine #SaudiArabia